The Smashing Pumpkins 2000-03-09
| March 9, 2000 – New York, NY, US | |
|---|---|
| Live performance by The Smashing Pumpkins | |
| Resume the Pose tour | |
| Date | March 9, 2000 |
| Venue | MTV Studios |
| Coordinates | 40°45′28″N 73°59′11″W |
| Location | New York, NY, US |
| Venue type | TV studio |
| Personnel | Billy Corgan, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin, Melissa Auf der Maur |
| Order of bands | The Smashing Pumpkins |
The March 9, 2000 performance was the Total Request Live taping. The songs that made the setlist were voted on by fans in real time through MTV's website. The event also included an interview with a guest appearance by Machina artist Vasily Kafanov, and a fan Q&A over the internet.[1]
Setlist[edit | edit source]
- "The Everlasting Gaze"
- (interview)
- "I of the Mourning"
- "X.Y.U." (tease)
Banter[edit | edit source]
Note: When anybody is talking to Dave Holmes, assume that he is constantly talking over them as they speak: "Right." "Yeah." "Uh huh." etc. All of that has been removed for clarity (and your transcriber's sanity). In addition, the theme week was stylized onscreen as @MTV Week; that appears in the text below as At MTV Week for clarity.
Carson Daly: This sucker’s gonna be loud. A huge group of hard rock fans are here to check out the Smashing Pumpkins at MTV, welcome to Day 4 of at MTV Week, where you guys are tuned in and logged on at the same time for the ultimate MTV experience, giving you the creative control if you wouldn’t mind. Carson Daly alongside my friend Dave Holmes.
Dave Holmes: What’s happenin’, Carson?
Daly: Very excited about today in particular.
Holmes: Eh yeah, it’s been an incredible week so far, we’ve had Hanson, Ruff Ryders, Cash Money clique and ‘N Sync. Got AC/DC coming by tomorrow, rock legends. But today....
Daly: Yeah, that’s, that’s, I think this rock experience will set up for tomorrow’s rock experience.
Holmes: Oh my.
Daly: The fans are here to see the Smashing Pumpkins at MTV, let’s not waste any more time...
Holmes: That’s right.
Daly: ...from their new album Machina: The Machines of God, here they are performing Everlasting Gaze, please welcome the Smashing Pumpkins.
The Everlasting Gaze
Daly: There you go. (wandering onto the stage) Everlasting Gaze, the Pumpkins, Machina: The Machines of God, the first single. What’s up, Jimmy? How’s it goin’, bro?
Jimmy: Good to see you.
Daly: That was rad, thank you. Smashing Pumpkins, you guys went online and wanted to hear that song. This is uh, it’s your first time - yeah, it’s still ringing. Billy, this is your first time playing here at the MTV studios, how was it?
BC: It was okay.
Daly: Yeah, it’s, it was alright. You know, we were talking about the Smashing Pumpkins fans, it seems to be this sort of like renewed, heavy interest in the Pumpkins now. Describe that to everybody.
BC: Well, we got Jimmy back here. (big cheer) We owe it all to Jimmy, heh heh! No, we’re just excited about playing rock and roll again and everybody seems to be ready to rock again.
Daly: Good timing and we’re glad to have you here, we’re gonna talk about the new record in just a minute, but let’s check in with the online voting and go right over to Dave to see what the Pumpkins will be performing next for us. Dave?
Holmes: Ohh, Carson, it’s still up in the air, check this out though, you guys are not gonna believe this, but yesterday during ‘N Sync at MTV, we had so many hits at MTV dot com that we actually crashed internet servers all across the East Coast, which is pretty amazing. We’re messin’ things up and today, yet again, our site is at the bursting point, all because of voting, your voting, for the next Smashing Pumpkins performance, it could be a hit from the past, it could be something from the album, you have the power to decide that by stopping by the At MTV Week area of MTV dot com. Now, coming up on Smashing Pumpkins at MTV, we’re gonna talk to the band, we got a sneak peek at two new videos, one of ‘em is interactive and you can find it at MTV dot com, which is very very cool. Plus, the upcoming performance that you are pointing and clicking for right now, stay tuned, it’s Smashing Pumpkins at MTV.
[commercial]
BC: (on pre-recorded video playing in Times Square) It’s Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, today we’re invading the MTV studios to play a couple of handpicked songs for you, we’re going to debut our interactive video, and yes, we’re going to make you cry...here at MTV.
Daly: Eh, welcome back, live from New York. Smashing Pumpkins at MTV, there’s a look at Melissa and James right next door, online chatting, we’ll check in with them and Dave Holmes momentarily. You guys are gonna basically tell us what the Pumpkins are gonna play next and uh, we’re here in uh, well, it’s for the TRL studio, hanging out with Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin and it’s just awesome to have you guys here.
BC: Thank you.
Jimmy: Thank you, thank you.
Daly: And yeah, we’ll talk about Machina in just a second, the new record, but Jimmy, it’s so great to have you back...
Jimmy: Thank you.
Daly: ...I mean, us fans. I wanna touch on that horse....
Jimmy: Thank all of you, thank you.
Daly: Tell us a little bit about some of the steps that you had to take in just initially getting back with these guys.
Jimmy: I had to give Billy a back rub like every hour for like seven days in a row...
Daly: How was the rub, dude?
Jimmy: ...and then I had to come over to his house and clean....
BC: Well, look at these guns here. (Billy grabs Jimmy’s sleeveless bicep and they laugh)
Jimmy: No, basically, we just had a meeting, talked about the new record and um, I think it was already cosmically arranged, you know, or aligned or whatever before we even spoke to each other so it wasn’t...
BC: It wasn’t like feeling it was gonna....
Jimmy: ...it wasn’t like “Oh wow!”
Daly: Yeah, and I love what you said in that videotape that I was watching where you were talking about like that first minute when Jimmy comes back in and starts playing and everybody’s sorta sitting with their head low and what was that first minute when you started rockin’ out?
BC: Well, we knew we were either gonna go on to bigger and better things or we were done for but um....
Jimmy: It was a loud minute.
Daly: Heh heh, yeah heh, fitting. The worst question you could ever ask a band is “What does the title of your record mean or what do the Smashing Pumpkins stand for?” but with you guys...
BC: Let Jimmy go ahead and answer that here.
Daly: ...yeah, well, because, because everything that Billy does, there’s always a great answer for it. Machina: The Machines of God, I think we would all like to know where that stems from.
BC: I titled it more like a play, so if you look at it more like a title of a play, it makes more sense.
Daly: Yeah, we need to go over to Dave Holmes I’m being told right now, who’s with Melissa and James, the other half of Smashing Pumpkins...
BC: He knows, Dave knows.
Daly: ...Dave?
Holmes: Hey, how you doin’ there, you guys....
Iha: YEAH!!
Holmes: Hi! (Billy and Jimmy are cracking up on the other set) He speaks.
Iha: Sorry, I’m sorry...
Holmes: It’s okay!
Iha: ...I just - I just lost my mind for a minute.
Holmes: I understand, I understand, too much of this will drive you nuts.
Iha: Yeah.
Holmes: Need a little something to break it up, I’m here with James Iha and Melissa Auf der Maur from Smashing Pumpkins. Melissa, brand new to the band.
Melissa: New girl on the block...
Holmes: That’s right.
Melissa: ...I’m very comfortable.
Holmes: You like?
Melissa: Yes, yes I like.
Holmes: Ease right into it?
Melissa: Oh, like an old rock shoe, yes, absolutely.
Holmes: Right on, right on, the guys are welcoming and all?
Iha: An old rock shoe, I like that.
Holmes: Very nice, and just - just for clarification, are you in Hole anymore, are you gonna be going back and forth or you officially...?
Melissa: I have left the sweet Hole department and after a very good five years and now I’m starting a new chapter of music and friends and such and it’s going very well.
Holmes: Great, are you looking forward to actually working on the next few albums with these guys?
Melissa: That will probably take one hundred years, heh, out of my life but um, I’m - this touring right now is just the most satisfying stuff I’ve done in a long time...
Holmes: Great new material...
Melissa: ...so this is good.
Holmes: ...and the whole thing. James, what do you think of the new album? You’ve been in the band for more than a decade now, does it stack up?
Iha: Well, Dave, I’m uh, I’m a survivor, you know I’ve been through this whole thing, we give a hundred and ten percent out there on the stage, I don’t know if you’re seeing all that, you know, we try to play our game as best as we can and, you know, god willing, we’re going to let things happen out there.
Holmes: Givin’ thanks to the big man up above?
Iha: Yeah, heh heh.
Holmes: Givin’ one hundred and ten percent...
Iha: Yes.
Holmes: ...but you know - but you’re feelin’ the new album? Feel like it stacks up against some of the older stuff?
Iha: Yeah, I think it’s a - I think it’s a good record, we worked very long and hard on it and I think all the songs are pretty fresh and the band’s rockin’.
Holmes: You know, one of the tracks that’s gettin’ a lot of radio play right now is Stand Inside Your Love and we have a sneak peek at the video for that, let’s take a look.
[Stand Inside Your Love video plays for 0:41 - first verse and chorus]
Daly: And we’re gonna go ahead and let Stand Inside Your Love still play on screen there. I think what I love about this song is that it’s uh, it’s a love song with some tempo, nowadays everything that’s love oriented puts you to sleep.
Jimmy: Yeah.
BC: (deadpan) It kinda surprised us that we’d write a loud rock song.
Daly: And it’s also about the concept of that video that we’re checkin’ out....
(audience has a delayed laugh to Billy beginning in the middle of Carson’s above line)
BC: (laughing) It did, I’m being honest, (to Carson) what? No, I’m sorry, what is it?
Daly: What’s the concept of that video, sort of where it stems from and uh, for Stand Inside?
BC: Even though we’re messed up and we have a troubled soul, we still love you.
Guy in crowd: We love you, Jimmy!
Daly: And I can feel the love, that says love, I love you too.
BC: I know, wait, just - even though I have a troubled soul, I still love you, that’s what it is.
Daly: Hahahahaha!
Jimmy: Thank you.
Daly: Uh, we need to take a question, not everybody could be here and it’s an online oriented show so let’s take this question for the Pumpkins.
Adrian: (via video) Hey, my name is Adrian, I’m 18 years old from Clifton, New Jersey, and my question is for the Smashing Pumpkins. Billy, I was wondering, do you have any other aspirations besides music, like maybe acting in or directing a movie?
BC: Uhh...well, I’m starting a boy band and uh...that seems - it’s got a Latin flavor to it and uh....
Daly: And it’ll be on TRL every day.
BC: So we’re catchin’ up with the new things, that’s what we’re doing. But uh, no, I don’t - honestly, I don’t wanna do anything else besides make music, I’m not really good at anything else...obviously.
Daly: How ‘bout the soundtrack stuff, you’ve had some involvement with that, is that a fun kind of arena to play in to create something [unintelligible word]?
BC: Yeah, soundtrack work is really exciting and I still think with all the electronic changes in music, there’s a lot of room to improve the nature of soundtracks, instead of just kind of making them like, here’s where you cry, here’s where you get excited, they’ll be a lot more exciting musically, so I’m hoping to get into that.
Daly: And we should talk about - you mentioned it earlier - The Crying Tree of Mercury, and if you guys go to MTV dot com right now, this is kind of a cool concept, I guess, for a music video. You can just click on the images and sort of, I guess, really direct it yourself. Tell us a little bit about it and maybe we should introduce the man’s who responsible for the artwork on the record and....
BC: Right. The man over here at the computer is uh, his name is Vasily Kafanov. He’s uh, he uh, he’s a crazy Russian man, my friend, and uh, he designed all the artwork on our new album and so.... He did it for - he did it for free, which was the best part and uh, no, I’m just kidding, but um, he’s worked with one of the MTV designers to come up with this kind of futuristic interactive video. There’s all sorts of weird chapters in there, I don’t even know what it means.
Daly: And what is it about Vasily’s artwork in particular that you were sort of bringing into your music and what is it about that you like?
BC: Well, I talked with Vasily from the beginning about trying to do what we would call alchemical artwork, which is kind of innately symbolic and try to tell the story of the album. Initially he was saying, you know, “What do you want me to draw? What do you want me to paint?” and I just said, “Here’s what I want you to feel and then you just make the paintings from that,” so that’s - everything that’s in the album came from Vasily.
Daly: Very cool, and you guys, again, go to MTV dot com and check that thing out ‘cause it’s rad. Let’s go back over to Dave right now and see where we are. Dave, I wanna know what the Pumpkins are gonna be performing next.
Holmes: I wanna know what the Pumpkins are gonna be performing next...
Iha: WOO!
Holmes: ...I think they both wanna know what they’re gonna be performing next...
Iha: Yes.
Holmes: ...they’ve been checking out some of the standings, how’s it looking online right now?
Iha: I of the Mourning seems to be the favorite right now and then Bullet with Butterfly Wings is below that, Dave.
Melissa: But of the top three, there’s two of the new so that means that the computers like the new songs.
Holmes: That’s right, Heavy Metal Machine is on there as well. So those are the top three, that could change, however, in minutes if you all log onto MTV dot com and make your voice heard. Now, the Smashing Pumpkins are gonna take the stage in just a few minutes...
Melissa: Oh, I’ve gotta go, bye.
Holmes: ...and play the song that you are requesting right now...
Iha: Wow!
Holmes: ...at MTV dot com, so stick around for that.
[commercial]
Daly: [cuts in] ...the top 10 most requested videos, if you look at Melissa and James from the Pumpkins, who are chatting online right now at MTV dot com... [tape cut] ...action, we’re gonna go live right across the next Midtown, so Dave Holmes is with the Smashing Pumpkins, Dave, so how are you?
Holmes: Yeah, I am, I’m with my fellow Midwesterners as a matter of fact, we were just reminiscing about the old Midwest, Smashing Pumpkins, the guys around here are chattin’ with the fans on the internet and I’m here with Billy. How you doin’, Billy? Welcome aboard.
BC: I’m fine, thank you.
Holmes: Thank you for stopping by for At MTV Week. Now, you guys are very tight with the fans, do you use the internet to kinda strengthen the bond between you and the fans?
BC: We use the internet to spy on our fans.
Holmes: Yeah?
BC: To find out what they’re really thinking. And then start rumors about ourselves that aren’t true.
Holmes: Yeah? That’s cool, are you hands on with the Smashing Pumpkins website like you are with the albums?
BC: We tried it and it got kinda out of control, so we shut ‘er down.
Holmes: Yeah, really? How’d it get out of control?
BC: Well, we started trying to sell our own T-shirts and then we started getting like a thousand complaints a day, “I didn’t get my T-shirt, you guys suck.” So we thought, let’s go back to “We like your albums” so we went back there.
Holmes: Out of the web business, very well. Now you’ve got an interactive video that we’re gonna take a look at during Smashing Pumpkins at MTV for Crying Tree of Mercury, we’re going to take a quick look at that right now actually, we’re going more in depth at the Smashing Pumpkins at MTV special, but do you think this is the future of music video, Billy, do you think it’s gonna become more interactive or what do you think?
BC: Uhhh....I don’t know, I’m hoping we can get that sort of thing where you hook it up to your brain.
Holmes: Yeah, you just get it directly wired?
BC: Just project all the scary images.
Holmes: Uh huh, uh huh, just get a memory of the Smashing Pumpkins album, like in Total Recall?
BC: Exactly.
Holmes: Excellent. So Smashing Pumpkins at MTV comin’ up at 4:30 p.m., we’ll talk more to you then, back to you, Carson.
Daly: Thank you very much, everybody over there, and let’s get to number two.... [tape cuts]
[commercial]
Daly: Yeah, welcome back, Smashing Pumpkins at MTV, live in New York. And the fans outside are gonna get one more glimpse of the Smashing Pumpkins. We’ve been using the internet, having you guys tell us what you want the Pumpkins to play. I’m with Dave Holmes and Dave, the final votes are in for this final performance.
Holmes: You’re in charge, the votes are in, James Iha called it correctly. The song that brought in the most requests at MTV dot com is a new one, I of the Mourning.
Daly: Ladies and gentlemen, the Smashing Pumpkins!
I of the Mourning
Daly: Smashing Pumpkins, thank you. Thank you, Jimmy, thanks for coming in. James, thank you, Melissa, thank you, Billy, thank you so much, it was a treat to have you guys here. The Pumpkins, Machina: The Machines of God, go get it. Thank you guys for watching and hanging out with us. Tomorrow...
Holmes: AC/DC.
Daly: Tomorrow AC/DC, right here, that’ll rock. Right on. Thanks a lot for logging on and thanks again to the Pumpkins. Check ‘em out when they hit the tour, (to Billy) happy birthday next week or whenever that is as well. The Pumpkins, goodnight.
X.Y.U. (tease)
